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Tempers flare in contentious House District 70 race over key LGBT endorsement

 
State House District 70 Democratic candidates, from left, Wengay Newton, Christopher “CJ” Czaia and Dan Fiorini answer questions from Tiger Bay Club members at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in July. Newton has managed to stay out of the feud between Czaia and Fiorini.
State House District 70 Democratic candidates, from left, Wengay Newton, Christopher “CJ” Czaia and Dan Fiorini answer questions from Tiger Bay Club members at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in July. Newton has managed to stay out of the feud between Czaia and Fiorini.
Published Aug. 21, 2016

The hiring of a prominent African-American activist and an endorsement from the Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County has splintered the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the House District 70 race.

The rift has triggered scathing attacks between two rivals in the Democratic primary: attorney Christopher "CJ" Czaia and businessman Dan Fiorini, one of the founding members of the Stonewall Democrats.

After Czaia, 56, earned the group's endorsement, he hired Theresa "Momma Tee" Lassiter — who calls homosexuality a "sin." Days before Lassiter endorsed Czaia, he paid her $1,000 to provide advice on African-American issues.

Since then, the insults escalated — then dominated — an LGBT debate at the Manatee County Democratic Party headquarters on Wednesday night.

Czaia and Fiorini are battling Wengay Newton, the former St. Petersburg City Council member, in the race to represent a district that includes Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota counties.

Fiorini, 60, has called on the Stonewall Democrats to withdraw the endorsement. He said the gay community is "paying attention to this" and is "rightfully outraged."

"It's outrageous," Fiorini added. "Momma Tee is a known homophobe. You have to look at the company Czaia keeps."

Another current member also wants the Stonewall Democrats to withdraw the endorsement.

"When more of the gay community find out about this," Steven McHugh said, "they're going to flip."

• • •

House District 70 is currently occupied by Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, who is seeking a state Senate seat. The Democratic winner will face Republican Cori Fournier in November.

Lassiter has a history of berating public officials.

In November, when City Council honored a member of the transgender community, Lassiter peppered a profanity-laced tirade with anti-LGBT comments. She condemned the LGBT community and declared that the "devil is alive."

Those attacks go back as far as 2005, when Lassiter verbally attacked current City Council member Darden Rice. She was running for council then while speaking to a group of Midtown voters and had been open about her sexual orientation.

Lassiter asked Rice if she was gay. When Rice said that she was, Lassiter stormed out of the meeting.

"God's not down with that," Lassiter said afterward.

The Stonewall Democrats formed after Rice lost that race.

Last week, Lassiter said she is entitled to her beliefs. She said she loves her daughter, who is a lesbian. Lassiter called it "funny" that Fiorini criticized her, but she has never seen him help African-Americans in the Midtown district.

Lassiter said she's earning the money Czaia paid her by providing insight into how to win black votes.

"Why they sweating me?" she said. "I took a stand. I'm a Christian. I love the person; I don't love the sin.

"I'm so sick of this LGBT community."

• • •

Czaia, who operates law offices in Tampa and Minnesota, focuses on immigration, personal injury and criminal cases.

The Stonewall Democrats "were not thrilled" that Czaia hired Lassiter, said vice president Jane Morris.

But the group continues to stand behind Czaia, she said, because of his long record of standing up for minorities.

"We can't control who he hires," Morris said. "But we believe we endorsed the best candidate in this race."

Czaia said it's clear Fiorini is distraught over the Stonewall Democrats' snub. Fiorini should devote as much energy to community issues, Czaia said, as he does attacking him about Lassiter.

"Everything turned bad for Dan when he heard about the Stonewall endorsement," Czaia said. "He's making it personal. I am not going to ostracize anybody. Momma Tee is not giving me advice on the LGBTQ community."

• • •

During the Manatee debate, Fiorini and Czaia pointed fingers and yelled at each other. Tempers flared.

Fiorini told voters that Czaia's relationship with Lassiter is the antithesis of what the Stonewall Democrats stand for.

"I don't employ people who are bigoted," Fiorini said. "I believe that if you align yourself with people like that, then you must have, to some degree, the same types of feelings that they do."

Czaia called Fiorini's response a "low, despicable attack." And Czaia added that Fiorini isn't entitled to the LGBT vote just because he's gay.

"I was vetted by the Stonewall Democrats and endorsed because I have a compassion for the community," Czaia said, adding: "As long as you have walls, this Trump-esque behavior has to stop."

Fiorini said hiring Lassiter is akin to him hiring David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

"You can be sure the black community would be screaming," Fiorini said.

• • •

Fiorini, who is also a founding sponsor of St. Pete Pride and a past board member of AIDS Service Association of Pinellas (ASAP), lobbed another accusation at the Pinellas Democratic Party.

He said chairwoman Susan McGrath played politics with the endorsement because he has criticized her leadership. The party, he told voters, has suffered under McGrath.

Fiorini pointed out that in this election cycle, no Democrat challenged any countywide officeholder.

McGrath disagreed. The Stonewall Democrats' endorsement, she said, was made after they unanimously recommended Czaia.

"I think highly of Dan Fiorini," she said. "We appreciate all that Dan has done for us."

One of St. Petersburg's three gay council members called it "unfortunate" that this issue surfaced in the campaign.

While Steve Kornell remains neutral in the contest, he said it's unfair to expect Czaia to have known about Lassiter's entire history. Czaia hired her to help in the African-American community, Kornell added, not the LGBT community.

"If CJ Czaia would have said something like that, I would have a very different opinion," Kornell said. "That's not the case. I will be voting on issues and who will do the best in the district."

• • •

The LGBT community has been a growing presence in St. Petersburg since at least 2001, when St. Pete Pride was founded. The festival now draws more than 200,000 annually.

But it is a community that has also struggled to gain acceptance from religious conservatives, especially pastors in the African-American community.

Czaia also won the support of the Rev. Manuel Sykes, pastor of Bethel Community Baptist Church. He declined a year ago to endorse nontraditional lifestyles. Fiorini said Sykes' endorsement also violates what the Stonewall Democrats believe in.

Ray Tampa, a retired educator and former head of the local NAACP branch, said it was "crazy" for Czaia to hire Lassiter because of her views. Still, he said the African-American community cares about the rights of all individuals.

"We would like to see the candidates be civil to each other," said Tampa, who backs Newton.

Newton missed Wednesday's debate and party leaders have questioned why. He told the Tampa Bay Times that he had a conflicting meeting with the Florida Medical Association, which has endorsed him.

• • •

While Czaia and Fiorini continue to attack each other, so far Newton, 52, has stayed out of the crosshairs.

The Stonewall Democrats rallied behind Newton in his two prior elections, helping elect him to the City Council in 2007.

In 2013, Newton and the other seven City Council members signed the first LGBT Pride Month Proclamation for St Petersburg.

If elected, Newton has vowed to continue the fight for equality and LGBT rights across Florida. The community, he said, has many needs — but what it doesn't need are bickering candidates.

"I don't know what's going on," he said. "This doesn't make any sense."

Contact Mark Puente at mpuente@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2996. Follow @MarkPuente